Ultraman: Towards the Future
Ultraman: Towards the Future is the tenth installment of the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions and SAFC, it was broadcast from January 4 to March 28, 1992 in weekly syndication, with a total of 13 episodes. In Japan, it was broadcast from July 8 to September 30, 1995 on TBS with the title, . It was the first series produced in the era. At the time, Eco-awareness was at a high, and many episodes included environmental themes. Ultraman's three-minute time limit is also attributed to "Earth's polluted atmosphere" in this version. The series generated a merchandise line including toys, comic books and a video game. Production Ultraman Great is the only Ultraman whose costume is made of spandex (such as the suits used for / ) as opposed to traditional rubber-based suits of all other Ultraman series. Plot Jack Shindo and Stanley Haggard are members of the first manned expedition to Mars, and on the red planet find a giant slug-like monster, Gudis. Suddenly the giant warrior, Ultraman, arrives and fights Gudis, but is knocked down for a period. Shindo is pinned by a rockslide and Haggard tries to escape in their ship but is blown up by Gudis. It is then that Ultraman gets up, and when he is on the verge of victory, Gudis changes into a virus and travels to Earth, where it plans on corrupting all life, mutating other creatures into monsters and awakening existing ones. Needing a human host to survive on Earth, Ultraman joins with Jack, allowing him to become the mighty alien when all seems lost. He joins UMA, in order to help them battle the monsters. Halfway through the series Goudes reappears, more powerful than before. It imprisons Ultraman, but Jack distracts it by ultimately showing it the futility of its mission. Even if it does manage to corrupt all life, eventually there will be nothing else to corrupt. The distraction allows Ultraman to break free and destroy Gudis once and for all. For the rest of the series the environmental themes are stronger and the monsters usually arise from human pollution. Characters Ultras Allies UMA *Arthur Grant *Lloyd Wilder *Jean Echo *Charles Morgan *Kim Shaomin Other Allies *Stanley Haggard Monsters & Aliens *Gudis (1) **Super Gudis (6) *Bogun (1) *Gigasaurus (2) *Gerukadon (3) *Clone Jimmy (3) *Deganja (4) *Barrangas (5) *Gazebo (7) *Majaba (8) *Bios (9) *Vegoids (9) *Ryugulo (10) *Veronica (10) *UFO (11) *Kodalar (12, 13) *Kilazee (12, 13) *Mysterious Plankton (13) Arsenal *Delta Plasma Pendant *UMA Cancer *Black Launcher *Pulse Cannon *Hummer *Monkey Top **Monkey Top No. 1 **Monkey Top No. 2 **Monkey Top No. 3 *Lander Episodes #Signs of Life #The Hibernator #The Child's Dream #The Storm Hunter #Blast From the Past #The Showdown #The Forest Guardian #Bitter Harvest #The Biospherians #Tourists From the Stars #The Survivalists #The Age of Plagues #Nemesis Cast *Jack Shindo: Dore Kraus ( ) *Arthur Grant: Ralph Cotterill ( ) *Lloyd Wilder: Rick Adams ( ) *Jean Echo: Gia Carides ( ) *Charles Morgan: Lloyd Morris ( ) *Kim Shaomin: Grace Parr ( ) Guest cast *Stanley Haggard (1-3): Jay Hackett ( ) * : ( ) * : Oriana Panozzo ( ) Voice actors * : Matthew O'Sullivan ( , (grunts)) * : John Bone ( (1-6), (7-13), (trailer)) Suit actors * : Steve Apps, Robert Schimper * : Mike Reed, Johnny Haridi Songs ;Opening theme * **Lyrics: Keisuke Yamakawa **Composition & Arrangement: Shinsuke Kazato **Artist: Masaki Kyomoto, Morinoki Children's Choral Group ;Ending theme * **Lyrics: Keisuke Yamakawa **Composition & Arrangement: Shinsuke Kazato **Artist: Masaki Kyomoto, Morinoki Children's Choral Group ;Original opening theme *"ULTRAMAN" **Lyrics: Yoko Narahashi **Composition & Arrangement: Shinsuke Kazato **Artist: JAY HACKETT ;Original ending theme A variation of BGM were used as the ending theme. Merchandising Soundtrack The music was composed by Shinsuke Kazato and released by Nippon Columbia Co., Ltd (COCC-9745) in 1992. The soundtrack is very rare, it went quickly out of print and can now only be found used. The music was performed by The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Toyline The series also received an equally short-lived toyline from DreamWorks toys. The figures were 10" tall and included Ultraman, who came with a mini Jack Shindo, as well as his enemies Bogun, Barrangas, Majaba, Gerukadon and Kilazee. Also released was a toy of the Hummer vehicle which included a mini figure of Charlie Morgan. A toy of the Saltop was advertised on the back of all boxes, though it was never released or produced according to a Bandai representative. Despite their unique size, the toys were not without their problems. Jack, Charlie and the Hummer were well out of scale with the other toys, while the Ultraman figure lacked articulation. Also, despite being the main villain for the first story arc, neither version of Gudis was released as a toy in the DreamWorks line (although one did appear in Bandai's Japanese vinyl Ultraman line). Video game A video game based on the series was released for . It is thought to have awkward controls and an unfairly high level of difficulty by many. It was based around the same engine as a Japanese Ultraman game based on the original series. In the game, Ultraman fights Gudis, Bogun, Degola, Barrangas, Super Gudis, Zebokon, Majaba, Kodolar, and Kilazee. Comic book A comic book retelling of/sequel to the series, published in early 1993 by Harvey Comics' short-lived "Nemesis" label, was printed in the United States. However, the comic treats Ultraman Great as the same Ultraman from the original 1966 series. The comic has also been known to confuse Ultraman: Towards the Future with the subsequent American-produced series, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (which was released as Ultraman Powered in Japan), of which the comic had included plenty of full-color publicity pictures in many issues to generate interest. After 4 issues (5 if you count the "Minus-one" issue), the comic series was canceled once Harvey Comics went out of business the next year. (Most of the issues had different collectible cover variants, a trend prevalent in the " " at the time). Another unrelated comic book series, "Ultraman Tiga", was later published by Dark Horse Comics in 2003 (ten issues). International broadcast In Thailand this series aired on Channel 9 (is currently Channel 9 MCOT HD) in 1993 on Saturdays and Sundays at late in the day. External links *'' '' at Wikipedia *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144072/ Ultraman: Towards the Future] at *[http://www.tv.com/shows/ultraman-towards-the-future/ Ultraman: Towards the Future] at Category:Outside Japan